Speakers
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Barrington Irving
In June 27, 2007, 23-year-old Captain Barrington Irving secured his place in history as the youngest person and first black pilot to fly solo around the globe. On his 97-day journey, he flew 30,000 miles in a single-engine aircraft called Inspiration, encountering thunderstorms, snow storms, icing, sand storms and monsoons along the way. His purpose in making the trip was to show other youth that if he could achieve his dream, they could too.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica and brought up in inner-city Miami, Barrington saw a football scholarship as his only route to college. But at 15, he met a Jamaican airline pilot, Captain Gary Robinson, whose mentoring helped motivate the young man to pursue a professional career in aviation.
In 2003, Barrington founded the Miami-based nonprofit organization Experience Aviation, Inc. (EA) to introduce other young people to career opportunities in aviation and related fields. In 2006, he opened the EA Learning Center to provide middle and high school students with aviation-related programs and career guidance. In the summer of 2008, the Center launched a 10-week project entitled Build & Soar that gave 60 inner-city students the opportunity to construct a Zenith XL aircraft. To show these students he believed in them and their abilities, Barrington piloted the small plane's test flight, with local and national media, sponsors, friends, and more than 5000 students from Miami-area schools in attendance. EA continues to provide after-school and summer mentoring programs in Miami and will offer its first Discover Aviation program in Dallas in the summer of 2011.
Among Barrington's many professional and government awards is a 2007 Congressional Resolution acknowledging his historic achievement and pioneering work in the field of education. A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Florida Memorial University, Barrington is also the recipient of the highest honor given by the Florida State Senate, the Medallion of Excellence.
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Randall Pinkett
Dr. Randal Pinkett is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company while an undergraduate at the University of Rutgers. He is now Chairman and CEO of BCT Partners a company he also founded.
Randal was named the winner of NBC's hit reality television show, The Apprentice, with Donald Trump. He was selected as one of 18 candidates chosen from among 1 million applicants to compete.
Dr. Pinkett holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University; a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Oxford, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, MBA, and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has written three books on business and entrepreneurship including Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneurs Guide to Launching a Mulimillion-Dollar Business, No-Money Down CEO:How to Start Your Dream Business with Little of No Cash and Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness.
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Divya Narendra
Divya is the CEO & founder of SumZero, which is the largest online community of buyside analysts in the world with over 4,500 analysts and Portfolio Managers as members. Every major hedge fund, mutual fund, and private equity fund is represented in SumZero's membership.
Prior to founding SumZero, Divya was an Associate at Sowood Capital Management and an M&A analyst at Credit Suisse Securities. Divya graduated from Harvard College in 2004 with a degree in Applied Mathematics where he also co-founded ConnectU, a predecessor to Facebook. Divya, along with his roommates, originated the social network idea at Harvard that led to the founding of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg.
The character of "Divya" is played by actor Max Minghella in the David Fincher-directed film, "The Social Network," which chronicles the genesis of Facebook. Divya is also currently a JD-MBA candidate at Northwestern Law School and the Kellogg School of Management.
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Simon Benjamin
Simon Benjamin found his artistic footing at 14 when he began designing t-shirts in Kingston. Over the next few years he trained his eye and put pencil to page for party flyers and iconic posters.
Simon continued to carefully cultivate his skills through formal education at the University of the West Indies and New York's School of Visual Arts, apprenticeships with a series of instrumental mentors—and unrelenting trust in his own instincts.
He has become an awarded, New York-based Director and Designer whose portfolio includes both the world's biggest brands and projects he's done out of personal passion.
In 2007, Simon was featured in PRINT magazine as one of top 20 talents under 30.
Simon has steadfastly evolved his work from the page, to the screen, to photography, to motion graphics, to branding for major broadcast productions—and finally to full-fledged music video director.
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Andrew Simpson
Andrew Simpson is the Chief Operating Officer of CaseWare RCM Inc., a subsidiary of CaseWare International Inc., a global software company that provides technology solutions for finance, governance and audit professionals. Previously, Andrew held the role of CEO and founded SymSure Ltd, prior to its acquisition by CaseWare.
Andrew's passion for entrepreneurship had led to the formulation of two successful technology and consulting companies. Andrew is also the Chairman of Symptai Consulting, a 13 year-old IT audit and security consulting firm with over 150 clients. Andrew previously worked with Ernst & Young as an IT Security Specialist.
He has close to two decades of experience in the information systems audit and security business; specifically data analytics, interrogation and forensics. Andrew is a regular contributor to global continuous monitoring, auditing and revenue assurance events and is acknowledged as a luminary and thought leader in this space.
Andrew is a Certified Information System Auditor. He has an honours degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of the West Indies and earned his MBA in Banking and Finance at the University of Wales and Manchester Business School. Andrew is an avid soccer fan and currently resides in Ontario, Canada with his wife Michelle and two kids Drew and Xavi.
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JJ Geewax
While an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, JJ joined four other students who were founding a small start-up called Invite Media. Although originally focused on using social data to optimize online advertisements, Invite Media eventually morphed into what it is today: a platform that enables customers to buy online ads in real-time through online ad-exchanges. Invite Media quickly grew to be one of the leading ad-buying platforms and, in June 2010, Invite Media was acquired by Google.
JJ started at Invite Media as a software engineer, focusing primarily on the platform's user interface and eventually became responsible for coordinating all of Invite Media's engineering efforts. He is currently a Software Engineer at Google and is responsible for growing and managing the Invite Media engineering team in Philadelphia and New York City.
JJ has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania.
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